Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
Directed by James Bobin
After the success of their telethon and renewed fame, the Muppets go on a world tour and find themselves wrapped into an European jewel-heist caper headed by a Kermit the Frog look-alike and his dastardly sidekick.
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3 films that influenced Muppets Most Wanted
What critics say influenced Muppets Most Wanted
Now that they are back in the limelight, it's time to start spitballing ideas for a sequel (among them, an existential study of life's greatest conundrums, a 'la Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal").
The inside jokes on offer include references to The Silence of the Lambs, Boyz 2 Men, Danny Trejo, The Spy Who Loved Me, and, most hilariously, The Seventh Seal.
Alongside the more kid-targeted jokes we get some stuff for the adult crowd, too—hello, The Seventh Seal reference.
Featuring clever film references from The Seventh Seal to Silence of the Lambs, writers James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller are smart enough to fill this adventure with references to features that adults will appreciate.
2011’s The Muppets noted that a Disney Store had opened near the Muppet Theatre, that Cars 2 was coming out on Blu-ray, thanks to an aerial shot of a billboard, and that saccharine songs and hypocrisy were what Disney’s new slaves were all about.
After the magically nostalgic return of the fuzzy-wuzzies to the big screen in 2011's "The Muppets," it's natural to think of "Most Wanted" as a sequel.
The new film is less story-driven and darker than "The Muppets," but it's no less entertaining - especially for those who remember and cherish some of Jim Henson's more madcap and twisted turns.
Segel in "The Muppets" is a prime example.
Successfully rebooted in 2011 with Disney’s “The Muppets,” the franchise is back with another clever installment, “Muppets Most Wanted,” from the writing-directing team of James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller, the creators (with Bret McKenzie) of cable TV’s witty “Flight of the Conchords.”
While Jake Gyllenhaal and Jesse Eisenberg tackle their twins of terror in Enemy and The Double, Kermit the Frog has a more family-friendly run-in with his evil lookalike.
Written by Javier Gullón from a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago, "Enemy" is part of a current doppelgänger trend: Jesse Eisenberg recently played dual roles in "The Double," based on the Dostoyevsky story, and even Kermit the Frog meets his mirror image in "Muppets Most Wanted."
Edgar Allan Poe's 1840 short story "William Wilson" is a well-known classic example, while, currently, Kermit the frog is bedeviled by a lookalike criminal mastermind named Constantine in "Muppets Most Wanted."
Even Kermit the Frog's got a dead-ringer nemesis in Muppets Most Wanted.
Not only does Kermit the Frog have one in 'Muppets Most Wanted,' but so does Jake Gyllenhaal in the tense and somber thriller Enemy (**1/2 out of four; rated R; opening Friday in select cities).